Late Night Traitor
by Muckefuck
Summary: It would have been so easy to leave him behind in the cell, to let the other's beat him to death day after day, but instead he comes. He decides to do this all on his own, when everyone else has long since fallen asleep. there's no purpose in doing so though. He would die, with or without the help. What a fool the kid is. Alaju, one-shot.


Aladdin moved slowly across the palace. His feet were being louder than he wished upon the floors. There was no one around, but still he felt the nervousness of what he was doing. The others would not be pleased with what he was doing if they found out. The rooms were so much larger at night around here. The walls and ceiling were so much more foreboding around him, with shadows that beckoned him to turn back.

He couldn't though; there was no choice but to continue forward. What they were doing was so wrong. He anxiously moved across one hallway after another, hearing Sinbad and Ja'far talking in one room as he passed the door quickly.

The rooms only seemed to get darker as he worked his way down the building from the upper floors. The moonlight didn't hit all the way down here in the lower levels. He sprinted from one set of shadows to another, eyes flickering around for another presence in the area.

There were two guards outside of the cells in the basement. He hadn't expected that.

The sound of yelling came from down the hall, making Aladdin sigh in relief as they both went to look at what was going on.

"Brat, you shouldn't be down here." The voice that drifted from the cell made Aladdin move forward quickly, running to the bars of the cell and unlocking it with the key he had taken earlier.

"I came as soon as I could. Look, I got a key," he waved the object a bit as he entered the cell and went to the magi lying on the floor. His pale skin marred with dirt and blood, eyes blazing with mistrust. The magi didn't cheer up at the news, instead rolling to face away from him, curling up as best he could with his chains and locks around his arms and legs.

"Go to bed, Chibi."

"I'm not going without you," he replied easily, moving to the magi and reaching to pull him up.

The other swatted at him, eyes blazing. "There's nothing to be done, Chibi! Don't treat me like a victim in need of saving. I don't need your damn pity and I don't need your damn help! Go back to your bed and get some sleep because when I get out of here the first thing I'm doing is killing your friends."

Aladdin moved forward a bit more, forcing the other to look at him. "You don't need saving, but I won't leave you down here."

"Stop caring, Chibi. I'm going to kill them. Are you hearing that? Dead. All of them. Are you really going to help me manage that?"

"I won't let you hurt them, but-"

"Then leave me here or you're going to be the hand that helps me kill them." Judal rolled back over again only to feel the other pull him back into facing him. His body was too weak to fight back. He wanted to kick the other, punch him away, but the shackles were too tight, weakening him too much. He felt the other pull him closer, pressing their lips together. The chibi delving into his mouth a bit, his eyes burned with the need for him to understand. Why couldn't the kid understand? It wasn't like that. He wasn't going to change for him, for anyone.

"Just let me get you out of here," Aladdin asked of him. "I want to get you out of here. It isn't right."

"Nothing in life is fair, brat. Don't spare me your pity."

"I do not pity you," the boy replied to him. "I want to help you because I like you."

"I'm to be your play thing then." He pushed at the boy with all his strength before he felt the other summoning his rukh. "Chibi, don't play with me. Go home."

"I will be, but I'm taking you with me." The boy held him up a bit, before he began to use his magic. The raven-haired magi felt his shackles fall away, his body moving a bit into the air. He watched the boy look around the area before pulling him along in the air through the room, out of the decrepit cells in the basement. Judal felt himself be lowered a bit onto the other's back, his arms being moved around the other's shoulders.

"Aren't you so strong," he mocked softly. "Should I feel grateful, brat?"

Aladdin's gaze flickered over his shoulder to the other's face. "I don't think so. I just don't want anyone to see your body trailing after mine as we move. Sinbad and Ja'far-san are both awake still."

Judal shut up at that, not desiring to see the others watch him be snuck out by their precious magi friend. He would plot to see them pushing up dirt later. He couldn't wait to see them bleed for setting him into some filthy cell to rot like a rat. The boy holding him traced over his hands idly, his gaze flickering around the palace as they moved.

Aladdin didn't seem to notice that he stunk of filth and body decay. He watched the other carefully, watching his gaze flicker nervously around the area as they ran. He watched him move quickly to a corner of the room to hide within the shadow of an alcove as a couple of late night goers moved across the room, giggling and murmuring to one another.

He felt the other stop breathing until the duo had passed, leaving the room silent again.

All the way up to a high point of the palace, he paused before a set of doors, looking around again before opening them. He moved them inside quickly before he shut the doors and locked them. His hands going to the other's hands and feet, looking at the shackle marks with those eyes.

"Stop it, Chibi."

"Hmm," the boy made a small sound as he looked up, meeting the other's gaze.

"I told you to stop pitying me."

"I'm not pitying you," he murmured, "I'm being upset with my friends for doing this to you." He moved Judal's wrists to his lips, kissing them gently. "They shouldn't have done this to you."

"You know nothing about war, Chibi."

"No, and I don't want to know about it." Aladdin gazed right back at him with those eyes. The clear blue gaze drowning him, threatening to take him in whole and never let him escape. "War leaves people hurt and crying. It leaves people all alone and I don't like that."

"We're nothing alike," he told the other, lost in those eyes.

"We aren't, but that doesn't mean we can't agree about anything." He pulled the other through the room. "I asked Mor-san to help me get a bath ready before bed. It's a little cold, but it should still be able to get rid of the dirt on you."

Judal could only be pulled along, Aladdin fumbling to remove his clothes a bit. He hesitated on the pants. "Come on, brat." He rolled his eyes, "You can betray your friends, but not be sure about removing my pants. I don't get you brat." He pulled at his own pants, moving slowly from where he sat into the tub of lukewarm water. "How hot was this when you had it drawn, Chibi?"

"I said that I really needed it hot since I was going to nap a bit before taking it." Aladdin replied, smiling as he began to move away a bit.

"Well?"

Aladdin looked over, "hmm?"

"This is your bath; don't you think they'll be a little confused when they find you still stink?"

Aladdin moved over to the tub again, removing his vest before pausing again. "A-are you sure that we should bathe together?"

"No, I think it's a stupid idea. Now get in here before I drag your clothed ass in here with me." He motioned to the boy to come over, hands going to the bandages on his chest. His gaze flickered around them, trying to find any sign to the end of them, finding the edges of the bandages tied together to keep them on. "Why do you wear these?"

"I don't like when I don't wear them," Aladdin replied as he went to undo the knot. Judal was quick to slap the other's hands away, untying it himself and pulling them away, watching the boy's chest come into view. He threw the old bandages aside and pulled the child closer, pushing his pants below his hips, down his legs until they were pooled at his ankles.

"Get in here, brat."

"I'm working on it," Aladdin replied, pulling his feet from his pants and climbing into the tub with the older magi. He wrapped his arms around Judal automatically, moving in closer, resting his head against him. "It's kind of cold."

"That's what happens when you let your bath water sit around, idiot." He moved a bit, trying to get comfortable with the kid there. It wasn't meant for multiple people in the tub. He felt his eyes drooping to a close, his head moving to rest on the boy's.

"Are you tired?"

"Does it look like it, brat?"

"I can wash you off so you can get some rest." Aladdin looked up at him, pulling him into a hug so that he could keep resting his head on the boy.

"I can wash myself."

"Let me do it for you anyway," Aladdin countered, moving to grab the bar of soap from nearby and dipping it a bit into the water.

He went to argue, but his fatigue called to him again, making him want to sleep more than anything at the moment. He didn't want to continue to argue anyway. There was still danger around, in case someone came to see what Aladdin was doing or if they went to check on him in the cells. Soon they would find out and Aladdin would be in trouble as well.

He watched the boy washing him, lathering soap over his chest. "Why are you doing this," he asked. The kid must have known that he was going to be getting into trouble. There wasn't going to be a happy ending to this whole situation. Sinbad and his generals wouldn't allow it. They would take him away by force if they had to.

"I told you why," the boy replied.

"You like me. Is that any reason to do anything? That's such a pathetic excuse."

Aladdin looked up at him and shook his head. "I can't explain it any more than that. I really like you and I don't like seeing anyone get hurt. It wasn't right what they did to you. Some of these dark marks on you aren't dirt, are they?"

"No, they're bruises." He remembered being hit quite a few times by the generals, guards, anyone that had disliked him. "Your precious candidate king left a few of these." One that had been over his eye when he had first arrived had been for this kid's sake.

"I don't like that." He moved forward, pressing his lips to one over his chest. "They were mean to you."

"It's called war," he tried to explain again, only to have that gaze flicker up to his.

"It's rude, whatever you want to call it. It doesn't matter what you want to call it, there's no reason to another person when they're already down. They shouldn't have done all this to you."

"Are you saying, Chibi, that if they had just thrown me into a cell and left me there, you wouldn't have come to get me out of there?"

"I would have come anyway," Aladdin murmured. "I don't like seeing you down."

"You're an idiot, wasting your time on someone like me when everyone around you loves you right now. You know how hurt they are going to be?" He lifted the other's chin, wincing at the pain in his wrist from the movement. "They're going to hate you. They're going to never trust you ever again. They're going to think that you are nothing but a liar."

Aladdin looked at him a moment before shaking his head, taking the older magi's hand into his, holding it close to his chest. "It doesn't matter. I did what was right. I know what I did was right and whatever comes of it, will come."

"Can you handle them hating you, brat?"

"Do you hate me?" The other's question came out quickly, taking the magi by surprise. He looked down at the kid, wondering what he meant.

"I don't like you, if that was what you were hoping to hear."

"You lie a lot."

Judal laughed, "What? You're expecting me to tell you that I'm so grateful to be free because now I can apologize to your friends and we can all be the best of friends? That isn't going to happen."

Aladdin shook his head. "I think you should be mad at them for being so mean to you." The boy began to wash away the soap from him, pulling Judal's braid apart in his hands so that he could wash his hair.

"I can wash my own hair, Aladdin." He pulled his braid from the other's hands only to have it pulled back, Aladdin's own set in his hands.

"It'll be easier for you to do mine than to untangle your own." Aladdin smiled a bit at him before continuing to comb through the tangles with his hands.

Judal watched him a bit before tugging at the brat's hair a bit. The look of pain on his face made him grin a bit before he began to undo the hair, tossing it onto the water as Aladdin continued to work on detangling his hair. "You don't have to get it all the way undone."

"I'm almost there." Aladdin tossed the band for his hair aside, smiling a bit as he brushed a hand through the black locks. "Your hair is really thick."

"You're hair's thin as hell."

The boy nodded a bit before looking up at him. "It's pretty."

Judal rolled his eyes before setting a hand on the boy's head, pushing him under the water. He watched that face fall below the water level before he sighed. Pretty. Of all the things he could have said his hair was pretty. He sounded like an idiot flirting with a girl. Pretty hair; he wasn't sure whether to laugh at him or mock him.

Aladdin came back up, wiping the soap and water from his eyes. "What was that for," he spluttered, looking over at him.

"That was for complimenting me like some woman."

Aladdin pulled him towards the middle of the bathtub, one arm around his waist as he leaned him back. "I wasn't trying to make it sound that way."

"Yeah, well it did."

The boy bit his lip, clearly trying to think of what to say as he helped Judal wash his hair. Judal could only feel a slight dissatisfaction, wanting to take more pleasure out of the boy being at a loss of words. It was humorous, was it not? He was clearly off his game, not sure what to do. He was finding out that he was saying and doing all the wrong things and he was going against all of his little friends.

Judal personally wanted to watch the others find out that it was Aladdin that betrayed them all.

"You're all done," Aladdin commented softly, moving to climb out of the tub.

"Where are you going, Chibi?" Judal watched him pause, looking over at him.

"It's cold in here. I'm going to grab the towels and pull you out so we can climb into bed."

Judal reached over though, ignoring the other's words, pulling him into in arms again. "That's your stupid fault. Catch a cold. I don't want to get out yet."

Aladdin went to speak for a moment before his gaze softened; settling into the older magi's arms a bit more. His hands played idly a bit of Judal's hair. Slowly, he let his eyes shut, a small smile on his face as he relaxed.

Judal watched the moon outside, rising into the sky. How long did he have before he would be back in the cells? It wouldn't be long. The guards would only be away from his chamber for so long, returning to find the door open and him gone. The alarms would sound, as the guards ran up to the main areas of the palace, breaking people out of their slumber to try to find him. There wouldn't be any time to waste in finding him.

Sinbad would be out for blood when he found out.

And here he would sit, relaxing with the kid in his lap. The whole palace would be full of rumors of betrayal. Aladdin would never be able to remain in the palace again. He would probably be kicked out of Sindria. His closest friends would feel betrayed.

He would probably cry.

Judal nudged at the boy a bit, "hey, Chibi. Let's get out."

Aladdin looked up at him, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's freezing in here."

The boy stood up, the water dripping from his person. He took a moment to wring his hair out a bit before stepping out of the tub. He repeated the wringing with Judal's hair, using more of his abilities to be able to pull him from the tub and wrapping a towel around him. His drying movements were slow, his eyes focused on what he was doing for fear that he might accidently hurt one of his bruises.

Judal returned the gesture by tossing the other towel onto the boy's head and laughing a bit at his surprised expression. "I think I have enough energy to dry myself off, stupid."

"I know," he answered with a sheepish smile. The kid dried himself off a little before helping him over to the bed. Judal was more than happy to roll across the crisp sheets. His face buried itself within the warm and perfumed pillows. He didn't mind being face deep within enemy sheets like this, especially if he needed to be here to regain his strength. He would have to sleep for a few hours before he made a break for it.

The boy climbed into bed next to him, crawling under one of his arms and settling his arms around Judal's waist. He nuzzled himself into a comfortable position and gave a soft good night before his eyes slowly began to close.

Judal could only ruffle the kid's hair a bit, watching the ceiling a bit as he thought to himself.

The kid was all alone after tonight.

He could give a traitor a night of rest before his world fell apart around him.


End file.
